The first ever Manakau United FC mini football competition took place on Saturday afternoon, in typical summer weather at the Manakau School.
Seventeen players turned out to try and win the cup, and after the ground crew had mowed the edges and set out the cones the pitch was ready for the four teams to do battle.
A reverse age grading system was used, something that MIGHT need a bit of fine tuning in future as it was noticeable that the younger age of the two "bib" wearing sides definitely seemed to hold sway as the tournament went on.
The first stage was an hours football of group play - which saw six games played with various levels of enthusiasm - with the two sides wearing those lucky training "bibs" qualifying for the cup final by a clear margin.
The "plate" final saw the Black shirts outlast the tiring Green and Whites ... and scoop the prize for 3rd place - a nice cool magnum bottle of Stella Artois !
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| Third place is good - when the prize is a cool beer! |
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| The Green and Whites after a tough day on the pitch |
Meanwhile the Cup Final was 14 minutes of cut-n-thrust 4-a-side football
- before the Manakau mini football competition was won by the Orange Bibs of Kimbal, Almo, Simon and Clive who beat the Green Bibs 4-2 in a hard fought final.
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| The victorious Orange Bibs crouched below holding the prestigious trophy - and the Green bibs looking on standing above. |